Mr. Speaker, while I have some sympathy with what the whip for the Bloc Quebecois has said, you have allowed a discussion of this because of the request made by the government whip and I would like to respond to his comments.
I assure the House that not only did we verify the contents of the motion but it was reviewed by the table prior to presentation by the hon. leader of the Reform Party.
The chief government whip alleges this is not relevant to the motion before the House. Relevance under citation 568 of Beauchesne is a criterion. I will explain very briefly why the amendment is relevant:
(5) Nothing in this resolution shall:
(i) Confer or be interpreted as conferring upon the legislature of the Government of Quebec, any new legislative or executive powers, proprietary rights, status, or any other rights or privileges not conferred upon the legislature or government of any province.
Point three of the motion states "the House undertake to be guided by this reality", that being the reality of Quebec's distinct society.
Point four states that the House "encourage all components of the legislative and executive branches of government to take note of this recognition and once again to be guided in their conduct accordingly".
Since we are instructing not only the House but the legislative and executive branches of the government to be guided in their conduct, it is clear they have an unlimited range of options in terms of how to implement this guidance. Subsection (i) of the amendment simply refers to a specific route they may take that shall not be considered. Therefore it is highly relevant to the motion.
Under citation 569 of Beauchesne adding words to a motion is an acceptable method of adding additional relevant material. Citation 567 instructs that these amendments can be made to increase the acceptability of a motion. Once again, since the stated intention of the leader of the Reform Party is to make this acceptable, not only to the members of the House but to a broader section of Canadians, it is perfectly in order.
I hope the government will make every effort to accommodate all Canadians in what is, after all, said to be a unity resolution. That would be a wiser use of time than trying to construe that the equality of provinces, the equality of citizens or the very integrity of the country is out of order on the floor of the House of Commons.